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<title>Outside Time as Understood in England by devilinthedetails</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25080019">Outside Time as Understood in England</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails'>devilinthedetails</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Justified [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brotherhood, Contemplative, Family, Fantastical, Gen, Musings on Time, philosophical</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:46:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25080019</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Outside time as understood in England, Edmund and Peter explore the fantastical elements of Narnia together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Justified [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816363</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Outside Time as Understood in England</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Outside Time as Understood in England</p>
<p>Edmund found his brother sitting like a bump on a log of driftwood along the beach before Cair Paravel. The rising sun gleamed in the aquamarine Eastern Ocean, white foam and green seaweed tossed to the sand as the waves broke along the peninsula’s craggy shore. Mermaids and mermen frolicked in the distant depths, singing songs that sounded like celebrations of summer after a hundred year winter imposed by a tyrannical witch. </p>
<p>At least, that was how the music sounded to Edmund’s ears, but the expression on Peter’s face as Edmund joined him on the driftwood suggested it could have been a funeral dirge for some long lost loved one. </p>
<p>“Every sunrise, I come out here hoping to see Aslan return.” Peter sighed before Edmund could ask what troubled his brother. “Yet he never appears, and my hunger to be with him again only increases so I know it’ll never be satisfied until he returns.” </p>
<p>“I don’t think he ever left us.” Edmund gazed out across the waves that were said to be how Aslan came back to Narnia after an absence. “I think he was always with us since we arrived in Narnia, and, more than that, I believe he will always be with us. His memory and his spirit are inside us.” </p>
<p>As the briny ocean breeze tousled his hair, Edmund thought he could hear Aslan’s voice, whispering to him in the wind, affirming that he had always been present to Edmund and his siblings in Narnia and would forever be present to them. </p>
<p>He remembered as if through a shattered mirror that distorted everything how when he had first come to Narnia, he had felt Aslan’s presence as an invisible condemnation cold and cruel as winter. It was only after he had been rescued from the White Witch that he had understood Aslan’s presence was warm as the rising sun heating his skin as he sat on the beach. Aslan’s judgment, he had learned, was not eternally angry but abundantly merciful. </p>
<p>“Narnia has changed you,” Peter remarked, casting an appraising glance over Edmund, and Edmund felt an inexpressible joy at the knowledge that his brother had seen the tremendous transformation Narnia had wrought in him. “Changed you for the better, that is.” </p>
<p>“It’s made me into my true self,” murmured Edmund, reaching this revelation only as the words emerged from his mouth, and he wondered if Aslan was speaking for him. Aslan seemed to be the fount of all the wisdom that he had inside him. </p>
<p>“I wonder if the change will last when we leave Narnia.” Peter’s tone was hushed as it inevitably was when he mentioned the possibility of leaving Narnia. </p>
<p>“It’ll last,” Edmund assured him. “It’s my true self, and so it must be enduring.” </p>
<p>“I wonder what will be different when we leave Narnia.” Peter scooped up a fistful of sand and let it flow between his fingers as if falling from the top sphere to the bottom one in a flipped hourglass. </p>
<p>“Nothing will be different, but somehow everything will be.” Edmund was astonished his brother hadn’t figured out an answer that was hitting him on the nose. “When Lucy went into Narnia and had tea with Tumnus, it was as if no time had passed. It was the same when she and I went into Narnia. That means however much time we spend in Narnia, no time passes in England. When we’re in Narnia, it’s as if we’re outside of time as we understand it in England.” </p>
<p>“Outside of time?” repeated Peter, mulling this over. “That’s simply fantastical. The most fantastical thing about Narnia we’ve yet discovered.” </p>
<p>“More fantastical than talking animals and a century-long winter?” Edmund gave an impish grin. </p>
<p>“The talking beasts and century-long winter might have been even more fantastical.” A laugh seemed to be startled from Peter, and Edmund sparkled in the reflected radiance of his brother’s amusement.</p>
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